


Frail

by Inkandquills, writersstudy



Series: Inktober 2019 [8]
Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Alpha!Jinwoo, Cults, Does not contain any actual smut, Gen, In chapter 1, In chapter 2, Long term illness, Mentions of Rape, Mentions of Underage Sex, Mentions of Violences, Mentions of incest, Omega!Sanha, Past Abuse, References to hospital stays, a/b/o dynamics, mentions of child rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 02:00:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20958599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkandquills/pseuds/Inkandquills, https://archiveofourown.org/users/writersstudy/pseuds/writersstudy
Summary: Inktober, Day 8!Prompt: FrailGroup: AstroPair: Jinwoo/Sanha (Platonic)A: Sanha has a secret, a dark, horrible secretM: It was the second year in a row that Sanha couldn't celebrate Halloween.[[PLEASE NOTE THAT WE, THE AUTHORS, HAVE NOT GIVEN PERMISSION FOR THIS WORK TO BE RE-POSTED ANYWHERE EXCEPT DIRECTLY ON AO3. IF YOU SEE THIS WORK ANYWHERE ELSE, PLEASE REPORT IT FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND NOTIFY US AT LIVING.LENIENTLY@GMAIL.COM. THANK YOU.]]





	1. Ashlee

**Author's Note:**

> Please check the tags before reading either chapter. These stories have much more mature themes than what we typically write. Please read at your own discretion.

To say Jinwoo was worried would be an understatement. Sanha had been an adult for six months now and still hadn’t presented. It was unheard of for anyone to take more than a week after their nineteenth birthday to fully present, but Sanha was going on half a year with nothing. Jinwoo had brought it up with the managers again and again, but they always shut him down, telling him that Sanha would be fine and that he was worrying too much. Now, the youngest member of Astro was shutting himself away. It had been three days since he’d locked the door to his bedroom and no one had seen or heard from him since. He was alive, they knew that much, since he’d been texting Minhyuk and posting in the fancafe. No matter what they did or said, though, they couldn’t convince him to come out of his room or let anyone in, which meant everyone else had been sharing beds all week.

“Hyung, it’s been four days,” Jinwoo said, phone pressed to his ear as he pleaded with the managers to do something. “He hasn’t even left to eat or get water or shower. He’s never done this before and I know you think him not presenting yet is fine, but it’s clearly not.” He heard the manager sigh over the phone.

“Look,” the man said finally, “I’ve been in contact with Sanha, I know what’s going on with him, and I can promise you he’s safe. He has food, he has water, he’ll be okay until everything’s over.”

“Why can’t you just  _ tell me _ ?” Jinwoo asked desperately, “I’m the leader of the group, I should know what’s going on with everyone. That’s my job.”

“Sanha and I have an agreement that I won’t take his issue to you so long as he keeps seeing a doctor and keeps in contact with me,” the manager said firmly, “I’m sorry, Jinwoo, but it’s a very delicate situation and I don’t think I can break his trust on this yet. Please just give him space until he comes to you on his own.” Jinwoo gritted his teeth. He wanted to throw the phone across the room and barge through Sanha’s door to make sure his baby, his maknae, was okay.

“Fine,” he finally said, “but don’t think either of you can keep this from me for much longer. Sanha and I are going to have a long talk when he’s done hiding.” He hung up without waiting for the manager to respond. No one was going to keep him from taking care of Sanha. He didn’t believe that the manager had things under control for an instant. He would give Sanha another day before breaking down that door himself.

“Hey, hyung,” Minhyuk said, coming up behind him, “Sanha just texted me. He’s asking us all to leave the apartment so he can shower and get cleaned up. I...don’t know what to tell him.” That made Jinwoo instantly suspicious. Why did Sanha need them to leave just so he could shower?

“The rest of you go out for dinner,” Jinwoo said, pulling out his wallet and passing his card over to the younger rapper, “I’m gonna stay behind and try to talk to him. Don’t let him know that though.” Minhyuk didn’t argue. The rest of them wanted to see Sanha feeling better just as much as he did.

Once the others left, Jinwoo planted himself on the ground in front of Sanha’s door, waiting for the maknae to venture out for a shower. He could hear footsteps moving around, which was more than he had heard all week.

“Jinwoo hyung, I know you’re out there,” Sanha called out finally, “can you please move? I need to shower.”

“I’m not blocking the door,” Jinwoo said, “you can leave the room just fine.”

“Please, hyung,” Sanha begged. Jinwoo wondered when the boy stopped trusting him. 

“I’ll move,” he said finally, “but only if you agree to come talk to me after you get cleaned up. I’m worried about you, kiddo.” Sanha went quiet and Jinwoo got worried that he had gone back to hiding again.

“Okay,” the maknae replied finally. Jinwoo got up and left the hallway, heading to the kitchen. He figured he might as well make Sanha something healthy and filling to eat while he waited. His ears caught the sound of the bedroom door opening and the bathroom door closing. He resisted the urge to go investigate the room the maknae shared with Minhyuk and Myungjun, to figure out what exactly he’d been hiding from them, but he knew Sanha needed to come to him.

Twenty minutes later, Jinwoo had food and a guilty looking maknae both at the table. 

“Eat first,” he said gently, sitting down across from Sanha. They ate quietly, the only noise coming from the clinking of utensils against dishes. Eventually, Sanha put his chopsticks down and heaved a sigh.

“Please don’t say anything until I’m done, okay?” he requested. When Jinwoo nodded, he took another deep breath before starting to explain.

“As you know, I come from a very...traditional pack,” Sanha started, “actually, traditional isn’t even the right word. It should really be considered primitive. Not quite naked in the woods primitive, but it’s a very isolated, cult-like community, and there’s a lot of...feelings against omegas. My pack in particular really sees omegas as a tool for reproduction and nothing else. There’s certain markers and mannerisms that they jump upon to identify someone as an omega well before they’ve reached sexual maturity and presentation and as soon as they’re certain, they’ll offer the omega up to be claimed a-and bred.” Jinwoo could feel his entire body running cold. He could tell where this story was going to go and Sanha seemed to know that too as he took a shaky breath and reached for the comfort of his leader’s hand.

“They didn’t care how old you were. I watched them do this to kids as young as seven, eight,” he said quietly, “and the thing about being claimed underage is that you never present properly. Our biology wants us to be reproducing, so you start having regular heats but you’re not fully mature, so it hurts so much more. The bite forces you to present early, but the pain and discomfort doesn’t go away when you become mature. It’s  _ horrible _ , hyung.” He gulped loudly, staring down at the table. This part was where it got personal.

“I was twelve when I got my first bite,” he said, voice almost inaudible, “but I got lucky. He was so old that he died almost two years in. I went to stay with my parents and my brothers again while they sorted his affairs a-and that’s when I got my second bite. My oldest brother, he didn’t mean it, but he hit his first rut around the time I turned fourteen and I was an unclaimed omega at that point, so he bit me. My dad and my other brother got him under control before he could do anything else, because even for them, that’s too far, but they couldn’t undo what happened.” Jinwoo had met Junha and he couldn’t imagine the older man hurting his brother like that at all. 

“I don’t blame him,” Sanha said hurriedly, catching the look on Jinwoo’s face, “it wasn’t his fault, he didn’t  _ choose _ to do that, and he’s the one that ultimately got me out of there. He saw how horrible and painful it was for me and he took me out of there. We moved to Seoul and he brought me to a doctor. I’m on suppressants now so that it doesn’t hurt as much and I’ve been wearing scent dampers so you guys couldn’t tell. I was going to stop on my birthday, but it didn’t line up correctly with my cycle so it would’ve been way too early or way too late, and I just lost my nerve. I don’t want to talk about all of it, hyung, and I know you would’ve wanted to help and I don’t want that either. I just wanna be normal.” Jinwoo squeezed Sanha’s hand gently.

“Can I talk now?” The maknae nodded, “I am  _ so sorry _ that you went through that. No one deserves that sort of treatment, especially as a child, and I’m so happy that your brother helped you get out. Whatever you want, whatever you need, I’m here to help you. But in order for me to do that, you have to be open with me and tell me what’s going on. If you need me to get the others out, I need to know. If you need water and food, I need to know. My job as your leader is to take care of you and I need your help to be able to do that. Okay?” Sanha nodded. Jinwoo got up from his seat and rounded the table to hug his maknae tightly. The boy started to weep as Jinwoo gently asked questions. Did Sanha feel safe working in a pack mostly made of alphas and with no other omegas? Did he feel safe living in the same room as an alpha or would he rather switch? Would he rather live in his own space entirely? Did he want to consider himself as part of the pack or would he rather be separated? How much did he want to tell the others? Was he comfortable with the managers, both of whom were alphas, taking him to his appointments, or would he rather Myungjun or Dongmin accompany him? How did he want to handle heats from here on out, and his biological mating to his own brother? 

“Let’s clean up dinner,” Jinwoo finally said when Sanha calmed down, “the others will be back soon, but I’ll have Bin share with Dongmin so you and I can talk, alright?” Sanha nodded and stood up, wiping at his face with the backs of his hands. He sniffled and Jinwoo shooed him away to get cleaned up again. The alpha texted Myungjun an all clear. The weight of Sanha’s secret was on his shoulders now, but he was happy to bear it. Anything to keep his maknae safe.


	2. Michelle

Sanha sat in the living room staring out the big window at all the kids in costumes walking up and down the street. He wore his own Halloween costume, a spiderman suit that he had picked out himself. He coughed loudly, only covering his mouth after Jinwoo reminded him.

“Appa, I wanna go outside,” Sanha whined. Jinwoo sighed quietly. 

“I know, baby, but we have to stay in here. It’s too cold out there for you this year and I don’t want you to get sick again,” Jinwoo said gently. Sanha pouted and pressed his face against the cool glass of the window. 

“But all of the big kids get to go Trick or Treating,” the boy protested. Jinwoo kneeled next to Sanha and combed his fingers through the boy’s hair. 

“But the big kids won’t get sick if they go outside. I’m sorry, Sanha. Hopefully it’ll be warm enough next year,” Jinwoo said. Sanha whined again and pushed his father’s hand away.

“Minhyukkie will be back soon with some candy for you to have tomorrow,” Jinwoo said. Sanha huffed and crossed his arms as best he could with his braces on. 

“I want to get my own candy,” the boy grumbled. Jinwoo sat back and chewed on his lip. He desperately wanted to let Sanha enjoy Halloween but after what happened a few years ago, Jinwoo would never risk it again. Every Halloween he felt so guilty that Sanha was miserable but he would never forgive himself for what happened. The doctors warned him against taking Sanha out into the cold surrounded by a bunch of kids with his compromised immune system, but Jinwoo wanted his baby to enjoy Halloween. That decision made Sanha the sickest he had ever been and for a while Jinwoo wasn’t sure if he would ever get to bring his son home again. Luckily Sanha was able to make enough of a recovery to come home but he still wasn’t fully back in working order, even after two years. The doctors said he never would be and Jinwoo wasn’t stupid enough to doubt them twice. He was pulled from his thoughts when Sanha suddenly leaned against him. His protests had sapped his energy and Jiwoo glanced down just in time to see the boy’s eyes flutter closed. He was surprised the boy had managed to sit at the window for a whole hour. It was quite the improvement for Sanha, especially with all the excitement of today and how he had been doing over the past week. Hopefully he would feel up to playing with Minhyuk a little after his nap. 

“How’s he doing?” Moonbin asked when he walked into the living room. 

“He just fell asleep,” Jinwoo replied quietly, “he’s upset he can’t go trick or treating and he worked himself up too much and exhausted himself.” He laid a hand on Sanha’s forehead. 

“He’s starting to spike a fever too.”

“See how hot he feels in a couple of minutes and if it’s not better we’ll get him changed,” Moonbin said. 

“I just want him to have fun tonight. He was so excited for everything, I’d hate for him to be disappointed,” Jinwoo said sadly. 

“I know, babe, but his safety is so much more important. I’m sure he’ll be okay once he wakes up and sees Minhyuk,” Moonbin said. 

“I hope so,” Jinwoo whispered. He kept checking Sanha’s forehead and thankfully the boy didn’t get any hotter. Hopefully, this would stay as a low grade fever they could keep at bay with some motrin before Sanha went to bed. The boy slept for a while, only waking up when Myungjun and Minhyuk finally returned from treat or treating. 

“Minhyukkie’s back. Do you want to play a little before bath time?” Jinwoo asked. Sanha nodded tiredly. He tried to sit up and sent himself into a coughing fit. Moonbin grabbed some water, while Jinwoo helped calm Sanha down. When the boy was able to breathe properly again, he leaned back didn’t make any more attempts to get off of his father’s lap. Minhyuk got changed into clean clothes and, with some help from his father, washed his hands properly. He grabbed a couple of Sanha’s toy trains and handed them to his friend before getting some for himself. The older boy zoomed around the room with the trains, making sound effects and even crashing into several ankles and then the couch. Sanha usually at least attempted to play with his friend but tonight he just stayed where he was on Jinwoo’s lap and pushed his train listlessly back and forth, the braces on his arms making it too difficult to grab the train properly. A few times he accidentally pushed it out of reach and Jinwoo had to bring it back. 

“Appa, I want some candy,” Sanha mumbled hoarsely. 

“Not if you aren’t feeling good. And it’s getting late,” Jinwoo said. Sanha turned to look up at Jinwoo with teary eyes and a pout.

“Appa, please,” the boy begged. Jinwoo sighed but didn’t say anything. He knew the boy wouldn’t feel good later if he ate now, but he hated saying no. As if to make a decision for him, Moonbin walked over to them with a small chocolate already unwrapped.

“You can have this small one now, but you have to wait until tomorrow to have more,” he said.

“Minhyuk, why don’t you grab a piece of candy and your water and have a little snack with Sanha?” Myungjun prompted. The boy immediately abandoned his trains in favor of joining his friend for a snack. Sanha perked up when Minhyuk sat next to him and even pushed himself up off of Jinwoo’s chest a little bit. He took the candy from Moonbin eagerly and bit into it. 

“What do you say?”Jinwoo asked gently.

“Thank you,” Sanha mumbled through his chocolate. No sooner had he finished his snack than was his yawning widely.

“I think it’s bedtime,” Jinwoo said gently.

“Come on, Minhyukkie. Say thank you and let’s get going. You have school tomorrow,” Myungjun said, “help Sanha clean up his trains.” Minhyuk pouted but obediently stood up to clean up the toys he had taken out.

“Bye, Sanha. I hope you feel better,” the boy said quietly before bouncing over to his father and grabbing his hand.

“Bye bye, Minhyukkie,” Sanha whispered. Moonbin walked Myungjun and Minhyuk out before turning off the front light and ushering his family upstairs. He helped Jinwoo carefully bathe Sanha and give him some medicine to help with the fever. The boy only allowed them to help him get his costume off with the promise that he could wear it the following day. After that, Moonbin finished his nightly routine and headed off to the bedroom. Tucking Sanha in was one of the few things Jinwoo still liked to do alone. He read a short book to Sanha and sang quietly to him before he carefully helped the boy lay down in bed. He tucked the blankets around his son tightly and made sure his bear was right next to him. Jinwoo knelt on the floor, resting his head sideways on the bed, and ran his head through Sanha’s hair. He listened to the boy’s labored breathing for a few minutes and watched the rise and fall of his chest. After he was sure Sanha was asleep, he kissed his baby’s forehead and dragged himself to his feet. He knew the boy would be awake in a few hours and he wanted to get some sleep so he would be awake enough when Sanha was up. On good nights, Sanha would wake up only once for a couple of hours before going right back to sleep, but this past week he had been waking up two to three times. Jinwoo completed his bedtime routine on autopilot and didn’t even register he was back in bed until Moonbin’s strong arms wrapped around him.

“He’s starting to get worse again,” Jinwoo mumbled sadly.

“We’ll keep an eye on him and if he doesn’t start to turn around tomorrow, we’ll call Dr. Lee again,” Moonbin said.

“I don’t want him to go to school tomorrow,” Jinwoo said. Moonbin knew better than to argue.

“He’s gonna be okay. Spend the day on the couch with him, watch a movie, and hopefully he’ll feel good enough to go to school on Monday,” he said. Jinwoo sighed sadly and rolled over so he could bury his face in Moonbin’s chest. He felt so guilty. Sanha had been looking forward to Halloween ever since he found his costume near the beginning of the month. And yet again, he hadn’t been able to enjoy the holiday that was specifically designed for him. At the end of the day Sanha’s health was the most important thing, but Jinwoo still wanted to do everything he could to make his baby happy. Moonbin stayed quiet, letting Jinwoo’s mind run away with him until he finally fell asleep. They weren’t asleep for long until loud crying sounded from down the hallway. Jinwoo slipped out of bed and rushed down the hallway into Sanha’s bedroom.

“Come here, baby. It’s okay; I’m here now,” he said soothingly. He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the sobbing boy onto his lap. 

“Appa, it hurts,” Sanha rasped out between sobs. He coughed loudly and struggled to cling onto Jinwoo. When he finally caught his breath, he began sobbing even louder. Not being able to breathe always scared him and made him more overwhelmed, sending him down a nasty rabbit hole. The more he coughed, the more he cried, and the more he worked himself up, the worse he felt. They did this almost every night, but Jinwoo still got worried every time. 

“I know, baby, I know. You gotta calm down though so you can breathe,” he whispered as calmly as he could. He continued to whispered soothingly to Sanha, guiding him to breathe, and helping him calm down. Almost an hour later, Sanha had finally stopped crying and was leaning heavily against Jinwoo’s chest. The boy’s forehead was still warm, but thankfully not any worse than it was earlier. All Jinwoo could do now was give him a little more motrin to help with the fever and pain and sit with him until he exhausted himself enough to go to sleep. Sanha pressed as close to Jinwoo as he could and slowly drifted off back to sleep. His labored breathing eventually evened out, but Jinwoo wasn’t ready to put him back down yet. This was their routine. Neither of them getting very much sleep, and neither of them feeling very rested for the next day. But Jinwoo would take countless sleepless nights if it meant his baby was okay.


End file.
